


the beauty of a sharpened blade

by herringbone



Category: Haikyuu!!, Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Blood and Violence, Injury, M/M, Oikawa Tooru's Knee Injury, like about as much blood and violence as you'd expect from a Mononoke crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 07:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8970388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herringbone/pseuds/herringbone
Summary: Hii-sama had said that Seijoh was as far west as he would be able to go. If he reached the sea, Hajime was going too far south, and if he didn’t reach the ironworks? Well, the curse wouldn’t take too much longer to do its work.(Or, the Princess Mononoke!AU where okami mythology takes precedence, Oikawa isn’t a princess, and while no one wins a battle, some of them win a war)





	

“Go back, no, I said go _back_ ,” Hajime yells. “Get back and tell Hii-sama!”

Aka careens through the undergrowth as the girls race back towards the village. The scrub rushes past him and Hajime flinches as the branches scrape at his face and arms. He hears a scream.

“Faster, faster,” he mutters, keeping an eye on the writhing mass further down the hill.

The trees clear as Aka jumps clear of the pathway and up onto the rocks. From the watchtower the _thing_ had looked smaller, but as they reach a spot on the mountainside where they can see the village, it bursts from between the scattered rocks and roars and bears down on them. Shedding what looks like blood, it charges.

“Go _around_ ,” he yelps.

Hajime digs his heels into Aka’s sides. They escape the creature’s first attempts, but when Hajime manages to tug out his bow and an arrow, some of the purple-red tendrils wrap around his right hand. He sucks in a breath as the skin _burns_ , gritting his teeth, and lets the first arrow fly.

He misses, swears under his breath, and grapples for another arrow from his quiver. The boar – because now he’s close enough to see the animal beneath the bloodied mass of tentacles – screams, enraged, and barrels towards him again. The second arrow finds its mark in one bloodshot eye, but not before another ropey mass winds around his right hand. He bats it away, but he can barely feel his fingers now, gripping the twine handle of the bow.

Beneath him, Aka bucks and rears, dancing out of the way just as he manages to send a third arrow straight between the creature’s eyes.

The scream from before is nothing like the one now. The mountainside seems to ring with it, and Hajime feels sick as it staggers, trailing blood and whatever else as it falls at the foot of the valley. Much further and it would have gotten to the village.

Wide-eyed, Kaya and the others stand in the open gateway.

“Iwaizumi-sama?” one of them calls.

He waves his good hand, not trusting his voice to call out, and slides inelegantly from Aka’s back. His knees buckle. His left hand is still gripping, gamely, to the bridle rope.

“Was that some kind of demon?” he hears another voice ask.

“ _Ani_!” Kaya calls suddenly, sounding afraid.

Even now on all fours, the grass is lurching unpleasantly before his eyes. Kaya and the others are crowding around now. Hajime swallows hard, trying not to vomit.

“Here, pour this on,” says another voice he soon realises is Hii-sama’s, “but don’t touch.”

Involuntarily, Hajime shudders as Kaya sluices water over his half-stinging, half-numbed right hand.

He can hear Hii-sama murmuring prayers somewhere to his left, bowing before the almost-carcass of the boar. It rumbles some sort of threat and exhales a hissing breath as it dies, disintegrating. The stench somehow makes the pain in his hand throb more than ever, and he manages to wave his sister aside before retching onto the grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Hii-sama tells him, Hajime leaves alone, unhooking Aka from the _akashihi_ pen before moonrise and stealing away before his sister can hear the news. She will find it easier this way. He only scrubs roughly at his eyes once, and then Aka treads silently past the shrine at the foot of the village and into the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later on, when his stomach is growling unpleasantly in the early dawn light, Hajime searches for a town and finds a massacre instead.

“Hey, you! Leave him alone, why don’t you.”

The samurai look up at Hajime from where they’ve been leering unpleasantly at a cowering old man. There are several small bundles scattered around the rice paddies now running red with blood. Hajime looks away, grimacing, and back at the men as they raise their steel at him.

He tugs an arrow from his quiver and fires towards one man’s feet.

“Let him be. I’m just passing through,” Iwaizume says roughly, trying to hide the tremor in his voice.

He can’t afford to get tied up in every conflict he finds if he’s going to get to Seijoh any time this season.

“Passing through, hm?” The samurai sneers and hefts his blade in two hands, glancing at his comrades. Thankfully, the old man has been forgotten. “Right at him, boys!”

Hajime ducks only just in time as one of the other men lets an arrow fly, and nudges Aka with his knees. She scoots away back towards the trees, but the men on foot are following far too fast. Hajime’s hand is aching and almost burning beneath its bandaging. He hopes the wound isn’t going to fester.

Aka shudders and bolts just as the first samurai reach him. Hajime is just hoping they can outrun them, when the pain in his right wrist flares. Gasping, he tries to grab at it with his good hand but is too slow. Instead he watches, half-awed, half-terrified, as it draws his blade from its scabbard of its own accord and slices off the head of the lead samurai without so much as a struggle.

“He’s some kind of _spirit_!” one of the others shrieks, as his leader’s body falls, delayed, beside his head.

Aka gallops past the rest of them.

 _That’s some curse, Hii-sama_ , Hajime thinks to himself.

Grimacing, he hangs on with his left hand, his right now burning and useless at his side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hii-sama had said that Seijoh was as far west as he would be able to go. If he reached the sea, Hajime was going too far south, and if he didn’t reach the ironworks? Well, the curse wouldn’t take too much longer to do its work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He spots the men in the river as he’s rinsing his wound at the bank. He drags them onto the muddy riverside as best as he can. One of them is barely conscious. The other he’s not sure will make it back alive at all.

“Check – for baskets – ” the first man gasps out.

Hajime tries to make him as comfortable as possible, first, untying his cowl and bunching it beneath the man’s head. There’s a cut running diagonally along his skull, but his hair is cut so short, almost like a monk’s, that the cut should heal without too much trouble. Leaving him, Hajime props up the other man as best as he can, carding the hair haphazardly out of his eyes in case he does wake up.

He wades out almost waist-deep into the river but can’t find anything like a basket. There’s what looks like a dead brace of oxen hooked under a fallen tree trunk further upstream. Hajime winces and goes to turn away, but something shifts in the corner of his eye. He peers across to the opposite bank and finds himself pinned to the spot.

Across the river is a boy, staring back at him with eyes that cut to the bone. He can’t be older than Hajime’s seventeen summers, but he somehow looks young, poised so lightly on his feet it looks as if he might take flight. Hajime frowns across at him, breathing hard. It feels like some kind of test.

The boy looks away and beckons towards something in the trees. Hajime blinks then ducks out of sight, peering between river rocks as three wolves tread lightly from between the trees. Two seem like normal _okami_ , but glossy white. They pad towards the oxen, one by one. Behind them, though, is a great hulking wolf, its eyes also gleaming like the boy’s, who reaches a hand towards its muzzle and scratches at the fur along its snout. Between its forelegs, blood drizzles into its fur, matting it.

“I can still see you, you know,” the boy calls.

Hajime feels a tremor run down his spine and clenches his right hand in his left as it aches. The boy’s voice is barely above a whisper, but it echoes eerily as if he himself is across on the riverbank with the wolves, too.

 _I’m going to die eventually anyway,_ Hajime thinks to himself, resigned.

He takes a deep breath and hoists himself back up to stare across at the wolves.

“I am Iwaizumi Hajime,” he calls back. “I travelled from far east, and I’m looking for the _shishigami_ of Seijoh forest. Can you help me?”

The enormous wolf huffs and growls. The boy frowns, unspeaking, then crouches down to the ragged wound. Hajime gulps, willing himself not to be sick, as the boy sucks blood from the injury and spits it into the river. He turns back to face Hajime, eyes still uncanny and bright, mouth red. He grins.

The boy’s hand still scratches at the wolf’s muzzle. _As if it’s a tame okami, if there were such a thing_ , Hajime thinks numbly.

“There’s a way back through the woods,” says the boy, matter-of-fact, “if you want to take the men back. But then you have to leave.”

Hajime holds the stare until the boy breaks it.

“You’ll meet someone at the ironworks who wants me _and_ the _shishigami_ dead,” the boy adds, like it’s an answer and not a riddle, and drags the back of his hand across his mouth. “You should leave. _Now_.”

From behind him, one of the men yelps, and Hajime glances back to see a tiny _kodama_ perched on Aka’s back. He hides a smile and turns back to the boy.

He’s gone. Only one of the smaller wolves is still in sight, tugging the dead oxen with it back into the thick forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Milord says they’re bad luck, you know,” says Tanaka for what must be the fifth time.

His friend, Nishinoya, is draped over Hajime’s back as he traipses along the forest path. The _kodama_ glance back at them all every few moments, checking that they can keep up. Tanaka is on Aka’s back, much to her confusion.

“If we go back you’ll have another day and night to contend with that broken arm,” Hajime grits out. “I’ve always been taught the _kodama_ are good luck, anyway.”

“Where’d you learn that?” Tanaka mutters, but he doesn’t seem to actually want an answer.

Hajime stays quiet, hoisting Nishinoya further up onto his back as they pass the base of an enormous tree and come into a clearing glistening with puddles and pools of water.

They rest until Hajime spots a shadowy figure that looks not unlike Aka through the trees. His arm seizes up so painfully that his vision swims, and dousing it in the cool water of one of the pools barely helps.

“Are you alright?” Tanaka asks, frowning when Hajime forces himself to his feet and slings Nishinoya up onto his back again.

“Fine,” Hajime grunts.

Ignoring the stinging from right wrist to elbow, he tugs lightly on Aka’s bridle and starts after the _kodama_ once more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Tanaka? Tanaka!”

“They’re injured, someone get – ”

“And is that Noya?”

In the bustle of helping Tanaka and Nishinoya onto stretchers, almost none of the townspeople take much notice of Hajime until later on.

“Traveller, what’s your name?”

Hajime glances over the heads of the crowd to a tall man in dark _hakama_ , flanked by two men who are clearly samurai pretending to be townspeople.

“Iwaizumi, sir,” he replies, cautious, ducking his head respectfully just in case.

He’s brought before Ushijima later, when he’s washed most of the blood from his clothes and wrapped his hand in a fresh bandage. It’s been weeks, but the skin is only just starting to scab over and heal. The pain is just getting worse.

“My apologies we couldn’t meet earlier,” Ushijima says formally, looking up from a scroll and _soroban_. “Our shipments would have been late otherwise.”

Hajime says nothing.

“What brings you here, anyway, _stranger_?”

Hajime glances at the taller of the two guards on either side of the desk. His hair is dark, but the second guard’s hair looks almost red in the lamplight. Between them, Ushijima seems to be hiding a smirk.

“This,” says Hajime eventually, and pulls the freshly wrapped cloth from his right hand.

The dark-haired guard’s eyes narrow, but he still looks surprised even though he’s trying to hide it.

“No need to be so brusque towards a guest, Kageyama-kun,” says Ushijima.

“Us being cautious means you're still alive,” the other guard mutters, shifting from one foot to the other.

“That may be so,” Ushijima says, still sounding amused. “What do you want us to do about that, Iwaizumi-san?”

 _You’ll meet someone at the ironworks who wants me_ and _the_ shishigami _dead_ , Hajime recalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, when Ushijima seems to have convinced his guards Hinata and Kageyama that Hajime isn’t here to kill anyone, they spot two wolves.

Standing up on the timber walkway above the garden, the pale dots of the wolves between the burnt saplings are stark. Ushijima gestures almost lazily with one hand and lets Kageyama frown down the barrel of the newly-forged rifle.

_Bang._

He misses, but only just, and as the dots get closer to the town Hajime bites down a cry of surprise. There’s a masked figure riding on one of their backs, holding a spear aloft. Hajime frowns, watching the _okami_ dash closer.

“What is he doing?” he asks under his breath.

“The mononoke boy,” Ushijima murmurs, glancing at Hajime then back at the oncoming wolves. “These days he lives to kill me.”

The alarm sounds, clanging in Hajime’s ear. He starts, hand reaching for bow and arrow as the wolves draw nearer. Ushijima is giving orders but Hajime ignores him, slips away, and dashes across walkways and roofs until he spots the wolf boy crouched on the parapet of the main ironworks.

Hajime peers down at the makeshift town square, where Ushijima and the others seem to be gathering. He sees the rifles in hands, blinks, and glances back at the boy only to find him already staring, mask pushed back off his face.

“I told you to leave,” says the boy, eyes flint-like. “Get _out_ ,” he adds, viciously, then turns his back and leaps, spear held aloft, from the rooftops.

“Stop!” Hajime calls out, and stands, waving his good arm to get Ushijima’s attention, _anyone’s_ attention.

 _Bang_.

Hajime grits his teeth, leaps down after the boy and nearly lands on him. He’s out cold, saved by the mask now in pieces by his side.

“Get _back_ ,” Hajime grits out, drawing his sword and finding his feet.

Hinata is holding a blade aloft, now far more threatening. Ushijima looks almost satisfied, hands held out as if in surrender.

“Stay here, Iwaizumi-san. Help me kill the _shishigami_ ,” he says.

Hajime bites back a retort, holding his own blade steady. At his feet the boy stirs.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to kill anyone, actually,” he tells him bluntly.

The wolf boy scrambles to his feet, teeth bared. Hinata bares his teeth back. Ushijima draws a thin blade from his sleeve and waves his guard aside.

“Business as usual, Oikawa?” he asks pleasantly.

“The only business you’re interested in is destroying the forest,” the boy says, voice icy, and lunges.

They parry, spear against steel ringing in Hajime’s ears as he watches carefully. Ushijima seems to favour his right. The boy – _Oikawa_ – only lunges hard on his left, staying light and dancing back each time Ushijima parries. Hajime spots an opening.

“Stay back,” Hinata warns, but Hajime shoves past him.

He manages a blow to the back of Ushijima’s skull with his sword pommel just as Oikawa tries to lunge on his right. Oikawa stumbles. Hajime catches Ushijima, arm muscles protesting at the sudden weight, only to be dragged away by Hinata and Kageyama. Onlookers swarm to help Ushijima away. Hajime had hoped to knock him out, but he just looks shaky on his feet.

“Get _off_ me,” he spits as Hinata grabs at him.

He holds his blade up again and is faintly pleased when the ironworkers shift back. His right arm is aching, blood pulsing to his fingertips. Beside him, Oikawa bares his teeth, hefting his spear aloft.

“Are you alright?” Hajime asks.

Oikawa hisses at him, glancing around at the crowds now hemming them in. The gate out to the forest is forbiddingly solid and closed. There’s no easy way out. Kageyama hefts a rifle, glaring.

“We can’t have travellers causing trouble. Let us take him and – ”

Oikawa goes to lunge again and falters. He’s tried to use his right leg again.

“Let him go,” says Hajime, glaring at Ushijima, who seems to have recovered somewhat, leaning on Kageyama’s shoulder.

“No,” Ushijima says calmly. “Kageyama can shoot you easily before either of you get out. Let’s speak reasonably about – ”

Hajime lashes out at Hinata, narrowly avoiding nicking his shoulder with the blade, then – _bang_ – his shoulder is on fire, then very cold.

He frowns. Ushijima seems to say something, but Hajime’s ears are ringing oddly. He glances at his shoulder, now seeping blood, and wonders faintly if this counts as dying from his curse. The pain is fading as his arm and side get colder and colder. Someone’s hand is gripping his uninjured shoulder. He shakes them off.

“Let us go,” he manages.

His lips feel rubbery, like the one time Hii-sama let the village boys try _sake_. The crowd parts for them, wide-eyed. Oikawa is saying something but all Hajime can hear is the blood thumping in his ears.

“Let us go,” he says again, when they reach the gates.

The iron workers are cowering away now. The wolf boy says something about blood. Hajime frowns, pressed his numbing hands against the huge timber gate and pushes. It opens, and they’re out into the night before Hajime sways on his feet, the pain returning in crashing waves. He feels his legs give way. Before he passes out, he sees Oikawa’s flint-like gaze peering down at him, and then the stars behind him go out one by one.

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to part one of a Very Belated birthday present for a dear friend
> 
> (I'll make no promises about when I'll be updating... maybe in the next few months?)
> 
> (for the full reading experience I recommend [the Princess Mononoke soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaUuLXQgUQ8) as background music)
> 
> as always, comments/kudos etc. appreciated :) you can also find me on [tumblr](http://herringbonefic.tumblr.com)


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